Pulliam continues racking up wins at SBS

SoVaNow.com / June 17, 2013

Lee Pulliam continued his quest towards a possible second straight NASCAR Whelen All-American series national title Saturday night.

Pulliam, the current points leader, recorded his ninth win of the season at South Boston Speedway, albeit against less than a full field of cars (17 finishers). It was Pulliam’s 13th overall win of the season.

Pulliam took advantage of some lapped traffic that helped pin Morris down on lap 97.

Pulliam then powered past Morris with 18 laps left following the race’s lone caution flag and secured the win.

There were only two lead changes on the night for the late model program. Pulliam averaged 81.388 mph in taking the checkered flag.

Pulliam had a .732 second martin of victory over Morris. Josh Oakley came home third, 2.493 seconds off the pace.

Dustin Storm and Ronald Hill completed the top five. Bruce Anderson had a decent run and finished sixth, the last driver on the lead lap.

Pulliam said of the duel with Morris, “He hasn’t forgotten anything .... he’s still just as good a wheel man as he’s ever been.

“I had my hands full getting around him,” said Pulliam.

“I knew I had to save my tires at the beginning. At the end, the right rear was just slam gone. Had a hard time getting by some lapped traffic there, but it feels good to be back in Victory lane here at South Boston, at our home track.

“Adding points to that national deal. We need to keep winning races. That’s what it’s all about,” said Pulliam.

He expects a dueling battle with second place points man Deac McCaskill in the national title hunt.

Four-time national champion Morris returned with a vengeance, sitting on the pole.

Pulliam started third.

Morris led lap one, with Pulliam bolting to second. The two national title winners led an early five-car pack, with Thaxton third in the early running.

Morris and Pulliam got significant separation from the rest of the rest of the field quickly.

Pulliam charged past Morris on lap 97, eventually powering to a substantial advantage.

But Thomas Scott, who eventually finished 11th, spun in front of the field, setting up a final 18-lap dash on a lap 132 restart. Pulliam got a solid jump and cruised to the win.

Morris led 97 laps, but fell short in the final dash.

“I spun the tires on the restart there, and just couldn’t get going,” Morris said. “But the car ran great. It could have been a little bit better. We came up 50 laps shy.”

The SBS late model drivers will now turn their attention to the next race on Wednesday, July 3.

The track will feature a 200-lap race for the late models, paying $5000 to win.

The track also features a 100-lap limited sportsman race and a 50-lapper fror the Budweiser Pure Stocks.